1 gs gs - AFPL Ghostscript interpreter/previewer ! $Id: gs-vms.hlp,v 1.37 2005/10/20 19:46:23 ray Exp $ ! Ghostscript version 8.53, 20 October 2005 Usage: $ gs [options] [file ...] Ghostscript is an implementation of Adobe Systems' PostScript (tm) and Portable Document Format (PDF) languages. Gs reads files in sequence and executes them as Ghostscript programs. After doing this, it reads further input from the standard input stream (normally the keyboard). Each line is interpreted separately. To exit from the interpreter, enter the `quit' command. The interpreter also exits gracefully if it encounters end-of-file. Typing the interrupt character (e.g. Control-C) is also safe. 2 Description The interpreter recognizes several switches described below, which may appear anywhere in the command line and apply to all files thereafter. You can get a help message by invoking Ghostscript with the -h or -? option. This message also lists the available devices. Ghostscript may be built with multiple output devices. Ghostscript normally opens the first one and directs output to it. To use device xyz as the initial output device, include the switch "-sDEVICE=xyz" in the command line. Note that this switch must precede the first .ps file, and only its first invocation has any effect. For example, for printer output in a normal configuration that includes an Epson printer driver, you might use the command gs "-sDEVICE=epson" myfile.ps instead of just gs myfile.ps Alternatively, you can type (epson) selectdevice (myfile.ps) run All output then goes to the printer instead of the display until further notice. You can switch devices at any time by using the selectdevice procedure, e.g., (vga) selectdevice or (epson) selectdevice As yet a third alternative, you can define a logical name GS_DEVICE as the desired default device name. The order of precedence for these alternatives, highest to lowest, is: selectdevice (command line) GS_DEVICE (first device in build list) To select the density on a printer, use gs "-sDEVICE=" -rx For example, on a 9-pin Epson-compatible printer, you can get the lowest-density (fastest) mode with gs "-sDEVICE=epson" -r60x72 and the highest-density mode with gs "-sDEVICE=epson" -r240x72. If you select a printer as the output device, Ghostscript also allows you to control where the device sends its output. Normally, output goes directly to a scratch file on Unix and VMS systems. To send the output to a series of files foo1.xyz, foo2.xyz, ..., use the switch "-sOutputFile=foo%d.xyz" The %d is a printf format specification; you can use other formats like %02d. Each file will receive one page of output. Alternatively, to send the output to a single file foo.xyz, with all the pages con- catenated, use the switch "-sOutputFile=foo.xyz" To find out what devices are available, type devicenames == after starting up Ghostscript. Alternatively, you can use the -h or -? switch in the command line; the help message also lists the available devices. To select a different paper size, use the command line switch "-sPAPERSIZE=a_known_paper_size" e.g., "-sPAPERSIZE=a4" or "-sPAPERSIZE=legal" As of this printing, the known paper sizes, defined in gs_statd.ps, are: PAPERSIZE X" Y" X cm Y cm ____________________________________________________ 11x17 11" 17" 27.94 43.18 a0 33.0556" 46.7778" 83.9611 118.816 a10 1.02778" 1.45833" 2.61056 3.70417 a1 23.3889" 33.0556" 59.4078 83.9611 a2 16.5278" 23.3889" 41.9806 59.4078 a3 11.6944" 16.5278" 29.7039 41.9806 a4 8.26389" 11.6944" 20.9903 29.7039 a5 5.84722" 8.26389" 14.8519 20.9903 a6 4.125" 5.84722" 10.4775 14.8519 a7 2.91667" 4.125" 7.40833 10.4775 a8 2.05556" 2.91667" 5.22111 7.40833 a9 1.45833" 2.05556" 3.70417 5.22111 archA 9" 12" 22.86 30.48 archB 12" 18" 30.48 45.72 archC 18" 24" 45.72 60.96 archD 24" 36" 60.96 91.44 archE 36" 48" 91.44 121.92 b0 39.3889" 55.6667" 100.048 141.393 b1 27.8333" 39.3889" 70.6967 100.048 b2 19.6944" 27.8333" 50.0239 70.6967 b3 13.9167" 19.6944" 35.3483 50.0239 b4 9.84722" 13.9167" 25.0119 35.3483 b5 6.95833" 9.84722" 17.6742 25.0119 flsa 8.5" 13" 21.59 33.02 flse 8.5" 13" 21.59 33.02 halfletter 5.5" 8.5" 13.97 21.59 ledger 17" 11" 43.18 27.94 legal 8.5" 14" 21.59 35.56 letter 8.5" 11" 21.59 27.94 note 7.5" 10" 19.05 25.4 Note that the B paper sizes are ISO sizes: for information about using JIS B sizes, see `Use.htm'. 2 Initialization_files When looking for the initialization files (gs_*.ps), the files related to fonts, or the file for the `run' operator, Ghostscript first tries opening the file with the name as given (i.e., using the current working directory if none is specified). If this fails, and the file name doesn't specify an explicit directory or drive, Ghostscript will try directories in the following order: 1. The directory/ies specified by the -I switch(es) in the command line (see below), if any; 2. The directory/ies specified by the GS_LIB logical, if any; 3. The directory/ies specified by the GS_LIB_DEFAULT macro in the Ghostscript makefile. Each of these (GS_LIB_DEFAULT, GS_LIB, and -I parameter) may be either a single directory, or a list of directories separated by a `:'. 2 X_resources Ghostscript looks for the following resources under the program name `Ghostscript': borderWidth The border width in pixels (default = 1). borderColor The name of the border color (default = black). geometry The window size and placement, WxH+X+Y (default is NULL). xResolution The number of x pixels per inch (default is computed from WidthOfScreen and WidthMMOfScreen). yResolution The number of y pixels per inch (default is computed from HeightOfScreen and HeightMMOfScreen). useBackingPixmap Determines whether backing store is to be used for saving display window (default = true). See the file `Use.htm' for a more complete list of resources. To set these resources, put them in a file (such as SYS$Login:ghostscript.dat) in the following form: Ghostscript*geometry: 612x792-0+0 Ghostscript*xResolution: 72 Ghostscript*yResolution: 72 2 Options Note that VMS will convert all command line arguments to lower case if they are not within quotes. Therefore, if a certain command does not work, try again but with quotes around it. -- filename arg1 ... Takes the next argument as a file name as usual, but takes all remaining arguments (even if they have the syntactic form of switches) and defines the name ARGUMENTS in userdict (not systemdict) as an array of those strings, before running the file. When Ghostscript finishes executing the file, it exits. -Dname=token -dname=token Define a name in systemdict with the given definition. The token must be exactly one token (as defined by the `token' operator) and must not contain any whitespace. -Dname -dname Define a name in systemdict with value=null. -Sname=string -sname=string Define a name in systemdict with a given string as value. This is different from -d. For example, -dname=35 is equivalent to the program fragment /name 35 def whereas -sname=35 is equivalent to /name (35) def -q Quiet startup - suppress normal startup messages, and also do the equivalent of -dQUIET. -gnumber1Xnumber2 Equivalent to -dDEVICEWIDTH=number1 and -dDEVICEHEIGHT=number2. This is for the benefit of devices (such as X11 windows) that require (or allow) width and height to be specified. -rnumber -rnumber1Xnumber2 Equivalent to -dDEVICEXRESOLUTION=number1 and -dDEVICEYRESOLUTION=number2 This is for the benefit of devices (such as printers) that support multiple X and Y resolutions. (If only one number is given, it is used for both X and Y resolutions.) -Idirectories Adds the designated list of directories at the head of the search path for library files. Note that gs_init.ps makes systemdict read-only, so the values of names defined with -D/d/S/s cannot be changed (although, of course, they can be superseded by definitions in userdict or other dictionaries.) 2 Special_names -dDISKFONTS Causes individual character outlines to be loaded from the disk the first time they are encountered. (Normally Ghostscript loads all the character outlines when it loads a font.) This may allow loading more fonts into RAM, at the expense of slower rendering. -dNOCACHE Disables character caching. Only useful for debugging. -dNOBIND Disables the `bind' operator. Only useful for debugging. -dNODISPLAY Suppresses the normal initialization of the output device. This may be useful when debugging. -dNOPAUSE Disables the prompt and pause at the end of each page. This may be desirable for applications where another program is `driving' Ghostscript. -dNOPLATFONTS Disables the use of fonts supplied by the underlying platform (e.g. X Windows). This may be needed if the platform fonts look undesirably different from the scalable fonts. -dSAFER Disables the deletefile and renamefile operators, and the ability to open files in any mode other than read-only. This may be desirable for spoolers or other sensitive environments. -dWRITESYSTEMDICT Leaves systemdict writable. This is necessary when running special utility programs such as font2c and pcharstr, which must bypass normal PostScript access protection. -sDEVICE=device Selects an alternate initial output device, as described above. -sOutputFile=filename Selects an alternate output file for the initial output device, as described above. 2 Files !!! Change GS_Root:[Ghostscript.gs4_0] Startup-files, utilities, and basic font definitions. GS_Root:[Ghostscript.Fonts4_0] Additional font definitions. GS_Root:[Ghostscript.gs4_0.Examples] Demo Ghostscript files. GS_Root:[Ghostscript.gs4_0.Doc] Assorted document files. !!! Change 2 See_also The various Ghostscript document files (above). 2 Bugs See the network news group comp.lang.postscript.